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Hey guys ... look what I got under the tree

Thanks for the info Joey. Your lume there looks perfect, I have no idea how you painted that so neatly. Perhaps the decal paper I'm using is too delicate, but I found that even the microset solution coated on the dial to begin was causing the decal to bleed and weaken, or maybe it's just my imagination. Compared side by side to one of my Vietnam dials, the brass did not look yellow enough. But now that I have a dial done and cased up, I feel like it looks pretty convincing. I did something a little crazy on this one. I noticed that my dial was fading and somehow moisture was getting under the acrylic coating and leaving little silvering marks. I found earlier that the oil from my fingers would deepen the black of the dial, so I decided to try giving the dial a very light coat of leather oil with a q tip just before installing it. The oil coating made the black really shine and totally masked all the little imperfections. I have no idea how it will hold up, but as it stands now I'm pretty amazed that I saved this one. My luming still needs improvement but overall I think this looks alright. I've gained a ton of respect for the people who make the Vietnam dials... I think they are quite a bargain really.

Buzz scored this Christmas!

"The one we can't pronounce his name" lol... honestly the secrecy surrounding this guy is a little much. I think everyone should have access to a gilt dial with the correct typography. Thanks for your help Bart, I couldn't have gotten this result without your posts and tips. Thanks for the lume advice Joey. Right now I want to take a break but eventually I'm sure more dials are in the works. You mentioned pictures of gens taken in the 1950s.. I've barely been able to find any of these vintage pictures. It's a topic that interests me, since they give insight into how these watches looked in a nearly new condition, how they were worn, etc. I might start a thread about it some time. Anyway, is my lume a bit too yellow? I always lume in lamp light and the lume seems too grey and dull so I add some yellow paint, then when I get out in sunlight it seems I went overboard.. Also in this pic you can see what I mean a bit that the brass chapter ring is perhaps a bit too dark compared to the gens.

My lume is far from perfect, or even good. It is passable and surely better from a distance! Practice. That's all it is. I've tried all sorts of tools to lume with, oilers and toothpicks and ultra fine brushes. Women used to hand paint lume on dials using a brush, licking the tip for sharpness and getting radiation poisoning in the process. I use a bamboo shish-ka-bob skewer for the round markers, flatten the tip, dip and one touch in the center of the marker. Being older than dirt, I need more help with the coronet and straight markers. I use a nib pen, which gives me better control. If you look at pictures of the gens taken back in the 1950s, they aren't perfect either. That is a clear benefit of replicating 60+ year old watches. They weren't perfect, nor cranked out by machines, but hand made with all the human imperfections. And I can do imperfections like an expert!

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Count down to my family’s Christmas eve party. Merry Christmas guys. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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